As CEO, I am often asked to be part of the interview process at Catapult Systems, even when the position does not report to me directly.

I tailor my questions to each role and situation, of course, but always conclude the interview by asking the candidate to share the most recent nonfiction book they’ve read in their field — and then something they learned from it. Depending on the job they are interviewing for, I might ask them for the most recent book they’ve read on management, leadership, sales, marketing, human resources, etc. This is a perfectly reasonable and innocuous question since, after all, this is the candidate’s professed field of expertise. How could any professional not want to stay current in their chosen line of work? I’ll even broaden the question to the most recent article, blog post, or column they’ve read.

Sadly, I am always amazed by how many people stumble on this question and can’t come up with a decent answer. And while failure to answer this question might not disqualify a candidate completely, it’s a pretty big red flag in my book.

There is one class of employee candidate at Catapult Systems Inc. that never has any difficulty answering this question: software developers. In fact, they will often reach down into their bag and pull out the latest technical book they’re reading right now and proceed to tell me exactly what they’ve learned from it — which usually goes completely over my head. Software developers understand that they need to stay current in their field and that ongoing professional learning is essential to their success. Other professions like doctors, certified public accountants, and engineers are also expected to continue a heavy dose of professional education until the day they retire.

On the other hand, businesspeople — I’m using the term loosely — often think this regimen of professional education doesn’t apply to them. They mistakenly believe they already know everything there is to know about their profession or that they can learn what they need to know on the job. This misconception gets exacerbated by early professional success and further ingrained with each year of hands-on experience that goes by.

This is unfortunate because I can’t think of a single profession that can’t benefit from outside ideas. Every industry and occupation, even the most traditional ones, have thought leaders, emerging trends, innovative methods and new best practices. And the most successful people I know, in any field, have the most insatiable appetite and most unwavering discipline around continued learning.

I am not suggesting this is easy. We all have plenty on our plates. And the higher up in an organization, the more excuses I hear: too busy, can’t find the time, client emergencies, email overload, hair on fire, dog ate my proposal. So as the leader of your company or department, it’s your job to not only lead by example but to create a culture of continued professional learning.

Over the past 20 years, we have tried different approaches at Catapult Systems — some more expensive than others — to encourage ongoing professional education for our nontechnical employees. We have the “book of the month” club, in which we all read the latest best-selling business book and get together for a couple of hours to discuss its applications for our company. To make sure everyone participates, we often ask attendees to present a chapter to the group. We bring in local speakers, business leaders and even vendors to share their insights on various topics. And we now have a subscription to the “all you can eat buffet” of professional education from Gazelles Inc., a provider of online executive education classes. Using this program, we get together in small groups and watch online videos of business thought leaders who cover topics including strategy, management, sales, negotiating, hiring, marketing and others.

Then, once a year, we take the entire executive team to one of their conferences so that we can hear those same authors and thought leaders in person. Ideally, we attend this conference right before our own annual strategy planning meeting so that we can leverage some of the new ideas we’ve been exposed to in our discussions.

Ongoing professional learning is a muscle that will atrophy if not used regularly. But it’s never too late to begin your exercise program. Start small; pick up the latest business best-seller at the airport bookstore or download it to your Kindle. If you learn just one new concept that you can apply in real life, then it’s already been worth it.

Sam Goodner is CEO of Catapult Systems Inc. www.catapultsystems.com, an information technology consulting company. He was a 2008 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner for Central Texas.